May 7, 2013

Lenovo Business Products

We just attended Lenovo's Accelerate conference on April 29-May 1 and had a chance to see and touch their newest products. We were definitely impressed with their touch screen technology, like the ThinkPad Tablet 2, their Helix which is a hybrid laptop and ThinkPad, and the Carbon X1 Touch, the lightest and fastest Ultrabook available. I do have an Ipad, and while I love it for websurfing, email, etc., I find that I cannot really create much with it. The ThinkPad Tablet 2 was designed for doers - those who create, decipher, report, define and dream. I think the ThinkPad Tablet 2 is the tablet of choice for business applications. And - you can have fun on them too!Check out this video:

March 15, 2013

Data Storage has changed dramatically in the last 5 years. Now with CLOUD Storage available, many wonder if investing in equipment is worth it or not. Micro Technologies has found affordable storage arrays that are available in many configurations.HP MSA60 is a 12 disk drive storage enclosure that delivers simple, affordable storage technology to meet the growing IT needs of many businesses. They are completely upgradeable and expandable. Our units can be configured to store from 6TB to 36TB of data. Need more capacity? Just add a second unit or a third, or a fourth. It is that SIMPLE!

February 1, 2013

Lenovo Thinkstation D30 wins

PC Magazine's Editors Choice

Lenovo is becoming the big name in computers and laptops.

Lenovo is the not so well known name for the very well known IBM "Thinkpad" Technology. Of course, being recognized in a industry that is already full of MAC, HP and Dell to name a few, is NOT an easy thing. I think they are finally gaining momentum, which is great since they are making such great products. We have purchased a couple of Lenovo Towers and a couple of Lenovo Laptops ourselves and we LOVE them! Now, I am actually seeing Lenovo laptops in the hands of even picky computer buyers. Now, it looks like PC Magazine is giving them some nice recognition. In particular, Lenovo is winning kudos for their dual eight-core Xeon CPUs. Plus the Thinkstation D30 has the ability to add on more powerful NVIDIA
Quadro cards. Lenovo's last dual-processor
workstation Editors' Choice was the Lenovo ThinkStation C20, which also featured the amazing Xeon CPUs. The Lenovo ThinkStation D30
is now the new "King of the Hill", as the dual-processor workstation Editors' Choice.Per PC Magazine: "It wins with power, expandability, and a ruthless devotion to get your project done
before any of your rivals can. "

Congratulations Lenovo!

What's more is that Lenovo is celebrating with two great rebate offers on their Top Seller Models:

ThinkStation D30 Top Sellers:

$1649 $2049

422933U 422935U

Xeon E5-2603 Xeon E5-2609

4GB ECC 4GB ECC

500GB, DVD RW 500GB, DVD RW

1GB Quadro 600 1GB Quadro 600

Win 7 Pro 64 Win 7 Pro 64

3 Yr Onsite 3 Yr Onsite

$150
Rebate $200 Rebate

(Note: The D30 is a dual processor workstation but these models come with only 1 processor installed).

January 24, 2012

The first of the year was the day I found out just how annoying an experience like losing your power can be. It can change your business from online, to offline, or at the very least in crisis mode in seconds. We are all used to short fluctuations from time to time, but complete outages make you realize how dependent we are on electricity.

We had a complete power outage at the first of the year. Our battery back up (UPS) did its job,keeping the phones and servers running for about an hour or so. However the outage continued. We looked to So. California Edison to provide us with an estimate to restore power. At first it was about 2 hours. Then it was extended another two hours, then to our closing time, then to midnight. Finally they estimated that they would restore power by the middle of the night. As it was, the power finally came back on at about 2:00am.

We did not know how long we would be affected, but we knew that we were going to be ready for business the next day. Our generator that we had in storage would not start. The carburetor was frozen, the gas not getting to the engine. So we purchased another. We ran a few extension cords to the needed sources of energy. All powered up just the way that we had planned.

It emphasizes the need for back up plans. As the owner of Micro Technologies, I recommend a good battery back up, nothing lower than an American Power Conversion BR1500G. You may need several, and some of them with a higher wattage rating. Not only for the data, but the phones, the servers, and anything else that has a plug.

But a good UPS does fail after some time (depending on the size of your UPS), so you need a good plan B. For example when the battery back up can no longer power your server, you will need an alternate source of energy, like a power generator.

In order to avert another disaster, you should have your data backed up. The power comes back sometimes with a surge, so you will want to have it plugged into a surge protector. All of us have lost a good TV, refrigerator or other appliance this way. Do not let your data go down. The potential is there for another unanticipated problem.

One our partners at Xilocore Corporation can help you run your data from a virtual server in the event of a complete power failure. It is Cloud backup technology that allows you to run your server from a remote location. You can log in from a Starbucks for example, getting to your precious data.

So we have discussed three potential problem areas. No power, data loss, and gaining access to your data after complete power failure or disaster. We would be happy to discuss with you a plan, not only protect your data, but also keep you powered, or your data online “when the lights go out”.

May 3, 2010

There is understandably a lot of concern about what backup solutions are the most effective for business, and there are many options to choose from. To those that want to run a business and keep IT costs down, choosing the right backup solution can mean money in the pocket now and money not getting burned up or washed away later.

With massive growth in data storage happening, the need grows with it for backup solutions that can give the most storage, with the least output of cash. Disk to Disk to Disk seems to be the go to solution that is getting the most talk, but is it what you want for your company?

With cost being one of the first things considered, the fact that disk to disk to tape seems to offer short and long term cost savings was important. That alone could be a deal maker or breaker for small companies. If data needs are going off the charts, wouldn't it be nice to reduce those costs?

Thinking about the purpose of Data Backup, long term archival through tape also offers some distinct advantages, one being the fact that tape doesn't get corrupted like disks can, and if you have a slow internet connection, who really has the time to wait for your backup to get recovered from offsite disk or a cloud backup environment?

The makers of tape backup solutions have been working tirelessly to remind the world that tape has a valuable role in the modern IT climate, with Quantum as a company that is taking the lead with the introduction of LTO-5 with 3 TB of storage per cartridge, (assuming 2:1 compression). Now is the time that businesses can show that they really do have their finger on the pulse of what is going on in terms of smart IT management, why not consider adding an LTO-5 device to your backup strategy?

Take a look at Micro Technologies Tape Backup Solutions and find out if their LTO-5 products are right for you..

March 5, 2010

Quantum's updated Backup Solution, the LTO-5 is fresh on the market and ready for integration into modern backup plans. With its 1.5 TB native capacity and better energy efficiency, it is ready to replace its predecessor the LTO-4. Backward compatible with the LTO-4 and LTO-3 the LTO-5 comes ready for quick upstart from install to backup in a short amount of time with it's Quickstart software. The LTO-5 will have a lower cost of ownership than the previous LTOs on the market, plus great security features like that of AES 256-bit native encryption, WORM capability and the new partitioning feature.

With the assurances of secure archived Tape backups, and the updated features of the LTO-5, Quantum is set to provide a capable financial solution to your businesses perpetually growing data storage needs.

November 6, 2009

LG Electronics introduces the N4B1 NAS. NAS or Network Attached Storage is storage attached to a network rather than a PC. The N4B1 from LG is a comprehensive storage solution, designed for easier and more efficient data management. Some of the features of the N4B1 to store and protect your data are:

Advanced data mangement - File sharing and version management

4 Hard Drive bays

Built-in Blu-ray drive

Remote Access Features

Windows, Mac, and Linux Support

3 additional USB ports

RAID 5, 1, 0, and 1+0 (10) available

Easy to use Web Interface

The LG N4B1 is the world's first NAS with a built-in Blu-ray rewriter. The Blu-ray drive makes it possible to burn up to 50GB of data per disc on to removable media, allowing you to either back-up current data for off-site storage, or archive and reuse storage space.

LG NAS is optimized for Small Businesses and Home users who manage large amounts of data such as Professional Photographers, Graphic Designers and Architects.